Veld Verdot
Born April 4, 1940 Former head of the Turks Served as "Chief" from 1970 - 1990 Wife: Linda S. Verdot, deceased Daughter: Felicia "Elfe" Verdot, missing Rookies Born in Kalm, Veld grew up in the shadow of Midgar. His father worked for Shinra as middle-management. Shinra had been actively recruiting people for the TURK program for at least ten years. Unlike the later SOLDIER program, the minimum age for TURK training was 17. Veld enlisted as soon as he was old enough. He was in the same training group with a young man named Vincent Valentine. The two quickly became close friends. They shared a dorm during basic training, and an apartment once they'd graduated. They also worked together as partners for several years. Kalm Veld married one of the typists in the Shinra clerical staff; a woman named Linda. They had one child together; a daughter named Felicia. Veld moved his family to Kalm, which had become a suburb of sorts to Midgar. When Felicia was three, there was a devastating fire that burned Kalm practically to the ground. Veld was not on the scene when it happened. Linda was killed, and Felicia's body was never found. Veld never gave up looking for her. Ironically, it was this personal tragedy that won him a promotion. Both Veld and Vincent were considered by both their peers and upper management to be the most expert of their class. Both were considered as possible candidates to become department head. Vincent lost his family as well just a few months later. The two men leaned on each other in order to wade through their grief. Veld, however, was judged to have coped better under greater stress. He'd lost his wife and child, Vincent had only lost his father. Although both were able to continue on despite such immense personal loss, Vincent was rendered mute for several weeks. Although he suffered no other atypical symptoms, because of this supposed weakness he was passed over and Veld was officially established as the next Chief of the Turks. Sadly, this personal victory would be tarnished by more sadness. A few months later, his best friend was shipped to Nibelheim as part of a security detail for the Jenova Project. Veld himself had suggested Vincent for the assignment, knowing that a good friend (and crush) of his, Lucrecia Crescent, would be going as well. Veld had hoped the two might grow closer together, but it was not to bed. By the turn of the new year, the scientific team had returned to Midgar without Vincent. No one could tell Veld what had happened, and he was forced to remove his friend's name from the duty roster and list him as "Missing In Action, Presumed Dead." Chief Veld became Chief in 1970, just in time to oversee the groundbreaking for the new Shinra Building in the center of Midgar. His new position allowed him to greatly expand his search for his daughter, but to no avail. Mentoring Tseng Turks do not retire. Most of the usually die in the line of duty. Precious few live to see a tenure as long as Veld's. However, they are also a fiercely loyal bunch. By this time, they had long been set aside in favor of the SOLDIER program which was becoming more and more prestigious. Taking advantage of this loss of interest, many Turks were able to leave the company still alive, Veld included. Although he is listed as "Killed In Action", he is still alive and lives below Shinra's radar. Tseng turns a blind eye so long as Veld doesn't cause any trouble. At present, his search for his daughter has become his full-time job. Undercover These days Veld spends most of his time running a small private detective agency, though his main priority is tracking down his daughter. So far, he hasn't had much luck. However, the best friend he'd feared was dead has come back into his life, so that's pretty awesome. And then Felicia found him. Life is pretty damn good right about now. <3